LAGOS LANDLORDS AND THEIR CUNNING ACTS

Now,this post does not apply to all Landlords in Lagos and thus all of them cannot be boxed into the category of being cunny.The truth however is that most of them are greedy and highly inconsiderate.I have come to realize that as much as we criticize government policies and all,everything boils down to us all as individuals and we are our own enemy in this nation called Nigeria.

You must be wondering where i am going with this.Well,i have noticed this trend now(i have never being a victim though and hope not to be) of landlords increasing house rents sporadically,by say 80 percent without any reasonable explanation ,but just for the mere reason that the property is theirs,thus leaving the poor tenants in limbo.


 I just heard this gist from a neighbor some days back, about  how the landlady just came to the house and increased her house rent from three hundred and something thousand  Naira to five hundred thousand Naira,without caring whose ox is gored,no explanation whatsoever.She even gave her tenants an ultimatum and that  if you can't pay you move out,after all there are several people willing to pay for the same apartment.

It is quite obvious that securing accommodation is very  hard in the city Lagos,and boy are most home owners are capitalizing on this!Tenants are now usually at the mercy of Oga Lanlord.Most people reading this who are landlords themselves might say,'what is this lady on about,i can do whatever i want with my property',oh yes sure you can,but only if you are doing the needful like providing basic necessities for your tenants.I would understand if a landlord increases the rent because he/she is doing repair works or maintaining the house,but no, they do nothing at all but just come yearly to increase rents.The tenants pay the light bills themselves(expectedly),employ cleaners to clean the environment,fix broken appliances,repair the pumping machine,contribute money to empty the sewage and so many other issues that are too numerous to mention,around the house.

Yet a  landlord  will come and hold his tenants  by the jugular all in the name of increment.It is now so prevalent in Lagos that you hear people moaning all the time.It is a sad trend and it is no wonder there is always a frosty relationship between Landlords and tenants.There is so much bad blood that it causes and breeds  animosity between the two parties most times.My own father owns a house in Lagos and best believe i have never seen him make any indiscriminate increment,or subject his tenants to harsh conditions,well maybe because the house is not his meal ticket.

We see houses that have been built ten years earlier or more,and in which enough profits have been made to cover the cost of building,still you as a landlord will come and make your tenants uncomfortable by shooting up the prices yearly.Are there no laws to these things?I also hope to be a property owner in the nearest future and i will not wish to be a bad landlady hopefully.

And  lastly,maybe i am naive or something,and i am not seeing this from the business angle or i am just being too sentimental.I just believe nothing,absolutely nothing justifies a landlord increasing his fee when he does nothing to maintain his property but feels he/she has the liberty to extort(i feel it's extortion)money from helpless tenants.